


both feet in fiction

by pandoracorn



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/M, Implied Relationships, drv3 spoilers, pregame au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 14:43:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14107617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandoracorn/pseuds/pandoracorn
Summary: "if i were to participate... i would want to be.... the ultimate detective."--Saihara Shuichi has always been a fan of Danganronpa.





	both feet in fiction

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a birthday gift for my friend Henry!! I hope you havea good day, buddy, and I hope this fic is good enough for ya! <3  
> please note i still haven't finished v3 and this is based on reading the wiki and spoilers i've seen through friends/tumblr/twitter so like. if it's wrong then i'm sorry!!

“And that’s why I believe that I should take the title of Ultimate Detective. It will be an exciting twist, something that hasn’t been seen in the last 52 seasons, wherein the Ultimate Detectives featured have been framed for murder and killed, but never the blackened.” He flicked through a small, black notebook, pristine in its writing and presentation, with small markers sticking out, attached to the odd page, where he deemed important. “Ah, see. Here, let me show you-”

_ “Saihara, I get it. Look, I don’t doubt you for a second.” _ The voice from the speakers didn’t seem annoyed, as her words implied, but rather, slightly amused, and he looked up to meet her small smirk with a slight frown.

“T… then what’s the issue, Akamatsu-sama? Do you not think I would make a good Ultimate Detective?”

_ “Maybe. I dunno, I always thought the detective trope was, uh… overused.” _

Saihara frowned deeper, watching the girl as she didn’t look at the camera, instead looking at her monitor, the clicking of her mouse audible. “You say that because your favourite season was 47, one that didn’t have an Ultimate Detective, and one of the dullest in recent years.”

_ “Hey, it was great. And totally went off-the-rails with the DR formula. You just don’t like change.” _

“No, I like change. It’s new things to analyse. But the characters were flat and didn’t have any real motivation - the protagonist fakeout was cheap as well.”

Akamatsu looked up, furrowing her brows, before clicking a few more times.  _ “Here. I found a transcript of the trials in season 47.” _

“I’d prefer not to read that trash.”

_ “Listen, wise guy, if you wanna do this, you gotta make sure it’s not anything seen before. Your proposed Chapter 3 killer trope is nice, but… it’s pretty much a lovechild of 47 and 51’s killers.” _

“...Ah.”

_ “Ironic that you sampled from your so-called best and worst, huh?” _

He scowled, and grabbed his notebook again, listening to Akamatsu laugh, and continue to click around her folders, peaking in and out for other resources for Saihara to use, as he flipped to the back of his notebook, and began to write out his audition lines in rough.

 

He had been a fan of Danganronpa for years - almost as long as he could remember, he would often say. A hardcore, dedicated expert, owning every yearly season - now numbering at 52, with the newest season just ended - and having analysed every bit available, each bit of symbolism, the motivations of each character displayed on the screen. Danganronpa was a part of him, and a part of his world. There was no Shuichi Saihara without Danganronpa. There would also be no Kaede Akamatsu without it, either - the two had met on a  forum, and though her heated opinions had sent him in a spin, they eventually buried the hatchet, and began to talk more… a few years later, and it had led them to this conversation, miles apart and yet so close. Saihara would have almost loved it, if his heart did not belong to something else.

 

He’d always wanted to apply to be on the show, but only now had he been pushed to do so by Akamatsu’s brash audition herself. This was his field, his element - if Team Danganronpa needed an expert, then dammit, he was just the boy for the job. Hell, he could even memorize whole  _ trials _ after watching them religiously… especially those with the detective as the starring role. He always loved those - the detectives, the strong-willed, smart and committed ones, the underdogs but those who never lose, always come out on top. Those who leave themselves vulnerable because of their knowledge. There was, of course, only one detective worth his time, her beauty and knowledge would never be surpassed by those who carried her title after her, no matter how likeable they were… no, no one could be a detective much like Kirigiri could. Well, at least, that’s what he would say currently. He would be the Kirigiri the world forgot - the better one.

 

“Hey, Akamatsu-sama… I’m done.”

_ “Took long enough. I almost got caught up again in the footage from 43.” _

“Would you be willing to listen?”

_ “Shoot.” _

The boy took a deep breath, feeling it shake as he silently read through the words he’d spent the past hour in silence writing out, nerves curling in his stomach as if it was the real thing, despite knowing it was only Akamatsu there to judge him, a fan almost as big as him. The concept, the very thought of being a part of the world he adored so, the world that was just as big a part of him as his own memories, even… it made him excited, queasy almost.

 

“I have always been such a huge fan of Danganronpa, and… always wanted to be in one… if I were a contestant, I would want to be… an Ultimate Detective.”


End file.
